-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Martian rock N165 , it 's your time to shine , or glow , or whatever occurs when a hard substance gets zapped by a laser beam .

From about 10 feet away , the Mars rover Curiosity 's ChemCam was to take aim Saturday night at the hapless three-inch rock .

`` We are going to hit it with 14 millijoules of energy 30 times in 10 seconds , '' Roger Wiens of Los Alamos National Laboratory told reporters .

A millijoule is 1/1000th of a joule , which is way too complicated to explain here . Suffice to say , it should get the job done .

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ChemCam , short for Chemistry and Camera , will analyze the resulting glowing , ionized gas in an effort to identify chemical elements in the rock .

Scientists say it will be the first time such a powerful laser has been used on another planet . The laser works in conjunction with a telescope .

NASA 's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said Friday that Curiosity 's first driving destination will be Glenelg , about 1,300 feet from the rover 's landing site .

`` We had a bunch of strong contenders . It is the kind of dilemma planetary scientists dream of , but you can only go one place for the first drilling for a rock sample on Mars , '' said project scientist John Grotzinger . `` That first drilling will be a huge moment in the history of Mars exploration . ''

The mobile science lab touched down on Mars early on August 6 and has been beaming back images of the surface of Gale Crater ever since .

The rover 's primary target is Mount Sharp , a peak about 8 kilometers -LRB- 5 miles -RRB- away . But moving about a football field a day , with lengthy stops , it could take nearly a year to reach the slopes at the base of the mountain .

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Rover 's ChemCam was to zap small Martian rock on Saturday night

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It will analyze ionized gas to identify chemical elements

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Curiosity landed in Gale Crater on August 6 ; scientists have been checking its systems